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Missing Longmont 3-year-old boy, Luke Turner, returned home to mom on Thursday

Call from police "surreal" for mother

By Pierrette J. ShieldsLongmont Times-Call

Posted:
03/22/2013 10:29:48 AM MDT

Updated:
05/26/2013 02:25:26 PM MDT

Brandy Turner smiles as she holds her son Luke Turner, 3, Friday, March 22, 201,3 at their home in Longmont. Luke, who was missing since July, was returned home Thursday night, March 21, after investigators tracked him to his paternal grandparents' property in Washington County, Colorado.
(
Matthew Jonas
)

Luke Aaron Turner, of Longmont.

LONGMONT -- Luke Turner, 3, pointed to a chair in the living room of his Longmont home on Friday morning and played the host.

"Come visit," he called out in a clear voice.

The last time his mother saw him in July he was just starting to get this whole talking thing down. Now he is a pro, happily chattering about this and that and offering big facial expressions along with his thoughts.

Luke was returned to his mother on Thursday night after Longmont police tracked him to his paternal grandparents' property in Akron in Washington County, according to police.

Brandy Turner has been looking for Luke since her husband, Monty Turner, took the boy and left town with him on July 2, according to police. The family's search included a Facebook community with more than 9,100 followers and a profile with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Longmont Police Cmdr. Jeff Satur said detectives Tori Bellah and Bruce Wittich led the police-based search for Luke, although Monty Turner is not currently facing any criminal charges in Luke's disappearance.

Brandy Turner said the law does not sufficiently protect children and parents in cases of parental kidnapping.

"That is really going to be one of my crusades," she said on Friday, while relaxing in her home with Luke and her 16-year-old daughter, Ashlea McMahel.

She said she is grateful for the help from the police, especially given that Luke's disappearance was not considered to be a criminal investigation.

"I am so thankful for the Longmont police. They were wonderful. They never gave up," she said. Washington County Deputy Christopher Marston said three deputies served a search warrant on Monty Turner's parents' farm property at about 4 p.m. on Thursday and searched for about two hours before locating the father and son hiding under carpet padding in a box truck parked on the property."When we went to open the door we heard some movement inside the truck and so we knew there was either something or someone in the truck," Marston said.

Ashlea McMahel, 16, watches as Luke Turner, 3, races by with a toy train, Friday, March 22, 2013, at their home in Longmont. Luke, who was missing since July, was returned home to his mother Brandy Turner, Thursday night, March 21, after investigators tracked him to his paternal grandparents' property in Washington County, Colorado.
(
Matthew Jonas
)

Longmont Police Jeff Satur said on Friday that detectives tracked the boy for months and used surveillance and other investigative techniques to locate them.

"They did a great job," he said.

Brandy Turner announced Luke's recovery on Facebook shortly after he was returned home. She and Bellah drove to Washington County on Thursday night to pick up the boy, who remembered his mother immediately and came home to a belated Christmas and birthday celebration.

She said she waited to hear from police as they searched the property. Then the call came. She said Bellah told her, "We got him!"

"It was just all I have been waiting for," she said. "I will never forget it. I was preparing myself for a let down, that they go away again."

But she went and retrieved her son and he was talking and happy.

"It is very surreal. It is almost like a dream," she said.He's bigger than he was in July, too, Brandy Turner said. He now wears 3T sized clothing, and much of his wardrobe at home was 2T. That meant a trip to Walmart on Friday morning for the family.

She said Luke slept soundly through the night and has been apparently unaffected by the drama that has surrounded him in the past 24 hours.

"He hasn't cried or anything," she said.

He asked once if he was going to see his daddy, and Brandy Turner said she expects more questions along those lines.

"Before he left, daddy was his hero," she said. "I can't imagine that changed."

She said she thinks her estranged husband took Luke for fear she would leave the state with him given problems in the marriage, but she said she had and has no such plans.

Brandy Turner is planning to ask the courts to make a temporary restraining order against Monty Turner permanent and said the future of the family's relationship will be determined through divorce and custody proceedings.

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